1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a walking appliance such as a stick or short staff and more particularly to a self righting walking cane for invalids and others in walking who, for example, may be unable to or have difficulties in bending down to pick up a device such as a fallen down cane. In addition, the self righting walking cane of the present invention is free standing and vertically stable.
2. Description Of Prior Art
There are numerous devices in the prior art to assist persons with ambulatory problems such as conventional crutches, walking sticks and canes. These devices are generally traditionally fitted with simple rubber end fittings for reducing the extent to which they slip on the ground.
Various devices have already been proposed to remedy these drawbacks. These devices include a tube suitable for being used interchangeably with any type of crutch or walking stick and receiving a special foot which is articulated to the tube by a ball-and-socket joint. In addition, the foot includes a plurality of resilient projections for providing better adherence on the ground over an area which is very large compared with the area actually used by one of the above mentioned single end pieces. The ball-and-socket joint allows the foot firstly to rotate freely relative to the tube, thereby ensuring that wear takes place uniformly on the projections, and secondly it allows it to adapt to ground irregularities.
However, for some people, these crutches or sticks suffer from a further drawback. Should they be accidentally dropped on the ground, they cannot easily be retrieved by their handicapped users who generally also have difficulty in bending down.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,882 discloses a walking stick which comprises a riser, a foot defining a supporting polygon, a ball-and-socket joint connecting the riser to the foot, and resilient means for keeping the riser in a determined position relative to the foot, such that when the foot stands on substantially horizontal ground and when the resilient means are in the holding position, the riser remains in a substantially vertical position, with the supporting polygon being defined by five end fittings positioned substantially at the vertices of a pentagon.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,642,074 discloses a walking appliance which comprises an upright member having a hand grip thereon, a transverse member having open ends and fixed to the lower end of said upright member, a substantially V-shaped member having inturned ends received in said open ends so as to be pivotally associated with said transverse member and forming therewith a substantially triangular base adapted to rest on a supporting surface, and means for selectively securing said V-shaped member in extended position to rest on a supporting surface or in collapsed position.
The foregoing patents as well as the following U.S. patents are believed to exemplify the present state of the art with respect to such rotating and uprighting devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,845
U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,850
U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,697
While such prior art devices provide improvement in the areas intended, there still exists a need for a self righting walking cane device which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art devices while providing utility features which provide new and useful advantages and improvements not heretofore disclosed.
Accordingly, a principle desirable object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved self righting walking cane device which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art devices.
Another principle desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting cane that achieves its self righting capability by virtue of the fact that the center of gravity of the cane is below the center of rotation of the cane's restoring surface.
Another desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting walking cane device which includes a lightweight shaft device.
Another desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting walking cane device which includes an extremely lightweight handle.
Another desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting walking cane device which includes a weighted base and a curved surface device attached to the base to achieve the righting action.
Another desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting walking cane device with a faceted wire frame or shell made up of three to an infinite number of cylindrical or other appropriate curved facets to do the restoring action.
A further desirable object of the present invention is to provide a self righting walking cane which will stand upright by itself on a single surface without the need for support.
These and other desirable objects of the present invention will in part appear hereinafter and will in part become apparent after consideration of the specification with reference to the drawings and the claims.